Friday, December 14, 2018

Gifts, Challenges & Contributions of Empaths

Empaths are plugged in, with subtle senses in the "on" position. Although the capacity to attune to subtle energies is a gift, it can feel like a curse, leading to overwhelm, emotional flooding, over-stimulation, and difficulty in relationships.

Empathic sensitivity is a gift of the heart.

To enjoy the gift of an ultra-sensitive, awake heart, practices for integration, embodiment, as well as relational boundaries are needed.

Enlivening the discernment and intuitional capacities in the brain center and empowerment in the navel center is a movement toward balance. When these centers are active, an empathic heart center is less likely to be experienced as overwhelming as the other centers will also be contributing to perception and experience, and support the integration of awareness, feeling and body sensations.

Empaths (and all humans) need an embodied sense of "I am" which provides a stable ground of connection and resting at home in the body. The more at home we are in our bodies, the less likely we will get lost in surrounding energies. Embodied meditation practices as well as movement practices like yoga, dance, and martial arts are physically grounding and support integration.

Healthy responsibility, the ability to respond to what is happening now, is enhanced when grounded in the body, and supports relational boundaries. Authenticity and resonant listening practices differentiate me and you, holding our (perhaps) differing perspectives while still maintaining a unified ground of compassionate understanding, or at least a desire to understand. This is a matured expression of the gift of the heart: we are still one, made of the same star-stuff and deserving of compassion and understanding, and at the same time we are separate with our own perspectives, experiences, history, development, needs, and values. The more fully we inhabit ourselves, including physical as well as subtle embodiment, the less we need the training wheels of rules and external boundaries.

From within our embodied selves, we have greater capacity to experience and thus to respond to what's happening in the surrounding environment in a healthy and effective way. Embodied, integrated empaths can feel into the larger networks and systems of our culture, without losing themselves or being overwhelmed. In order to make needed changes in corrupt systems, we must first feel and discern what is occurring, including what is in / out of alignment. This is one of the beautiful contributions that empaths have to offer the world. Empaths can feel and reflect what is sick or not functioning with integrity in our world, related to the environment, education, banking, etc. Discerning and speaking to what is out of balance is the first step in taking responsibility for a more aligned possibility, where each of us who is willing can respond and move into action with what is ours to do. Living in this way, we can make our own lives better as well as create a world aligned with love, restoration and evolution for all life on our planet.

Thank you to all the sensitive empaths for being here, and walking your own path to integration, embodiment, and relational integrity!